The best parts about being in a static spot are the small facilities onsite. Toilets and a laundry make life just a little more simpler. We do have a very small washing machine onboard the boat but it drains the boat battery very quickly, and therefore, can only be used when the boat is actually moving and at the lowest temperature setting. The machines onsite were bigger and had more than one setting. A great opportunity to wash bedding and towels etc. I use a clothes horse to dry the clothes outside although they do have a dryer if necessary. I did hang out the clothes like the photo below one day and came home to find the whole lot in the marina water next to the boat!
The washing before it all fell in after the wind blew it over.
More excitement when a small boat had to be removed from the canal nearby. The owners had refused to register the boat and pay the CRT fees, and had deliberately holed it to partially sink it in a very awkward place. Some people are just idiots.
A morning ritual when resident swans, cygnets and ducks come to see if there is any food to be had. The swans can be quite aggressive towards the ducks even though their cygnets are getting quite big now. This happens everywhere you go. The ducks in particular seem to know that food comes from narrowboats.
When it is very sunny, the boat does get really hot later in the day, even with windows and doors open to let the breeze flow through. Dick likes the good phone signal he gets to work, and the solar helps power the Jackery he uses to run his laptop but sometimes it gets hot enough inside that he has to move outside. This was his favourite place under the tree. The posts in the photo are electrical points that you can connect to to run your boat's systems without running the engine. Unfortunately, The Duke does not have shore power anymore. We didn't know that when we hired the boat. It was a question we should have asked but most people who hire for longer times tend to cruise more continually, and don't head into marinas for a while like we had.
The other thing we really liked was to be able to walk out the back door of the marina, straight on to the canal path and into Newbury or out in the opposite direction for a longer walk.
A walk along the canal path west of Newbury
Newbury town centre
The canal running through Newbury
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